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Exploring some questions about menopause and melatonin together
Just a quick post today, filled with graphics for you to explore the connections between menopause, melatonin-pause, and meat (or, antioxidant amino acids if you will).
What are the implications of melatonin being so effective at relieving the symptoms of menopause?
Why are melatonin levels low during and after menopause?
I’ve read several theories and I think it’s likely a combination of factors:
The drop in melatonin levels is physiological, since reproduction is ending and there is less need for melatonin to scavenge free radicles in the reproductive system
The drop in melatonin is due to accelerated calcification of the pineal gland from modern lifestyle stressors such as fluoride exposure, sedentary lifestyles, and unnatural opening of voltage-gated calcium channels from electrical devices
The drop in melatonin is due to oxidative stress at this life stage and the resultant additional burden on the endogenous antioxidants (melatonin, but also glutathione and others)
Question for you: what’s missing in the melatonin graphic below?
Answer: Heat & a healthy microbiome! The above graphic, excellent as it is, doesn’t highlight the relationship between infrared light and melatonin in mitochondria, or the potential for the microbiome to serve as a source of usable melatonin.
How can melatonin support the menopausal transition?
Since I haven’t yet entered this threshold, I don’t write or share much about it, but I do get questions from the community pretty often. Some observations (or more like questions) that are currently guiding my research:
*the body needs heat to generate melatonin from mitochondria—is this part of the reason for hot flashes?
*since sunlight brings heat and also modulates the microbiome, does this suggest menopausal and post-menopausal women may need even more daylight and time outside than younger women?
*many women report sudden weight gain—does this suggest the body is expecting a tip toward a more ketogenic style of eating, similar possibly to the carbohydrate intolerance that we see in pregnancy (aka gestational diabetes)?
And of course there is always more to consider and think about.
Now, I’d love to hear from you! Please share your observations, experiences, and questions about menopause here. I’d love to know what is on your mind to help inform my research so I can create some more thorough resources for you and the rest of our community here. Thank you!
Sharing my experience. I will be 49 this September, I started experiencing on-and-off perimenopause symptoms 1.5 years ago in addition to gut issues. Last summer, I had a chance to travel to Southeast Asia for 6 weeks, and I spent a lot of time outside under the sun and sweating. All my symptoms went away! I meant ALL. I returned to the US, asking what happened to me, and that's how I discovered quantum biology. Based on my experience and what you wrote about melatonin, microbiome, and menopause, there are intricate connections there. I spend hours working outside now and none of the symptoms returned. Still have monthly cycles on time (lol)...
Thank you for writing about menopause! I am six years into perimenopause without any HRT. I don’t actually know another woman IRL who is at this stage of life and not on hormones. My mother, my aunts, and my grandmothers all had hysterectomies, so I haven’t actually gotten to witness a woman walk through the threshold of menopause up close. It has been a wild journey thus far. Super, super hard at times, but fascinating nonetheless.